Prudhoe Bay

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The Prudhoe Bay Oilfield (PBO) in northern Alaska was the first developed oilfield in the Arctic. It is an extremely important asset to the U.S. and the state of Alaska, containing 16% of U.S. proven reserves of oil and gas. In 2012, taxes on the oil from the Northern Alaska oilfields accounted for over 90% of the Alaska state budget. The PBO is located on the Beaufort Sea coast, halfway between the Canadian border and Point Barrow, a region that was remote and roadless prior to the discovery of oil in March 1968, and is still linked to the rest of the U.S. by a single 417-km road, the Dalton Highway. An extensive infrastructure network quickly followed the oil discovery, resulting in development within an approximately 2,600 km2 area along a 150-km portion of coastal tundra, located mostly between the Sagavanirktok River on the east and the Colville River on the west.